Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Malibu Sydney, Surry Hills


I love gourmet sandwiches and when I have a craving for one, Malibu Sydney is the first place I think of to satisfy my craving.  Malibu Sydney is not a place that screams find me, quite the opposite actually.  You'll have to walk down Elizabeth Street towards Central station, past House the Thai restaurant until you get to the Illustrated Man Tattoo Studio.  From here you have to turn left into Foster Street and tucked away near the corner is Malibu Sydney.  This place is tiny, if you blink, you may very well miss it. Tiny or not, the queues at lunch are crazy for either one of their mammoth sandwiches or salads, which are all made from scratch once you order.  They take their sandwich making seriously here, and if you don't get here early enough, you will have to wait, but it'll be worth it.

Lunch today was going to be a Malibu sandwich affair, as my friend Pho Girl and I, decided that it was about time we satisfied our Malibu sandwich cravings.  However, instead of queuing  and ordering when we got there, we decided to place a phone order before their 11am deadline, for pick up before noon in order to avoid the lunch rush.

Turn left here...
walk along Foster Street...
here we are, home to sandwich heaven.

We arrived before noon and there was no queue for pick up either, much to our relief, as once the sandwich making sessions start, preordered or not, you'll have to wait your turn.  Now, I almost always order my special combination of brown Vienna bread with their poached chicken, vegetables, roasted tomatoes, avocado and mayonnaise.  On occasion, I stray and go for the chicken schnitzel but that is another combination altogether.  Today was a poached chicken sandwich day, for sure.

If you thought I was joking about how mammoth these sandwiches were, I definitely wasn't.  The sandwich is almost as long as their A4 page menu.

Our sandwiches compared to their A4 menu

Pho Girl and I lugged our parcels back to work.  We couldn't wait to unveil them and munch away. When we got back to the office my sandwich almost dwarfed the tissue box on my desk.

My very healthy parcel

I can never fault this sandwich, except that they are too big.  It's certainly not a bad fault, but Cheesecake Boy has to eat one half for lunch and the other half for dinner, as the fillings are a meal in itself.  The bread is incredibly soft and the fillings are so fresh and flavoursome.  

My lovely brown bread sandwich in all it's splendid glory, $13.50

The poached chicken in this sandwich is tender and succulent, but what really does it for me in this sandwich are the vegetables that I am sure are pumpkin and definitely zucchini and carrot.  The vegetables are perfect against the avocado and chicken, and the roasted tomatoes gives the sandwich a nice acidity.  The final touch of the creamy, but tangy mayonnaise is divine.

The filling: poach chicken, vegetables, roasted tomatoes, avocado and mayonnaise

This sandwich is truly magical, I don't know a person who has tried one of these sandwiches, and not fell in love with them.  If you're crazy about sandwiches and haven't made the trek down to Malibu Sydney, you are seriously missing out.


Happy sandwiching, Dumpling Girl.


Malibu Sydney
Shop 1
62 Foster Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010
Ph: (02) 9280 2233

Malibu Sydney on Urbanspoon

12 comments:

Simon Leong said...

they do look good but aren't the cheapest big sandwiches around town at $13.50. Big Bite on Pitt sandwiches are under $10 :-)

joey@forkingaroundsydney said...

Lovely looking sambo. I don't know of this place but will check it out next time if I'm near. Thanks!

Dumpling Girl said...

Hi Simon, I like lots of things in my sandwich, so it's me doing all the add ons as they don't have a set menu in the shop on display but I am sure they have standard sandwiches so, but I make my own.

I've been to Big Bite, but Malibu has really spoiled for other sandwiches in this league, I would make an exception for The Olive at The Strand if it was still around, I use to love their salmon sandwiches on the rosetta roll.

A lot of people in my office actually share one of these, so for what you get it's not bad.


Hello Joey, they are really lovely, but there's no written set menu on display. However, I am sure they have standard sandwiches as I've seen people say chicken schnitzel and they start making standard ones. I just like to pick and choose what I eat :)

chocolatesuze said...

oh awesome that's super close to where i work! those look freaking massive i better find a friend to share half!

Dumpling Girl said...

Hi chocolatesuze, I remembered the first time I had one, I couldn't stop eating and before I knew it, the whole sandwich was gone. Lol, but now I really struggle to finish this.

Cheesecake Boy said...

word of warning - this sandwich is MASSIVE - bring a friend :)

Dumpling Girl said...

Hello there Cheesecake Boy, I can see you are really busy at your lecture now, glad you read the post hun, but you need to listen your lecture now. Yes, they are massive but it never stops you from eating one :)

Jen said...

Wow thanks for this, I never would have found it if not for your directions! I love huge, chunky sandwiches like this.

jack - on the roof eating cake said...

That is one big, good-looking sandwich! I love these little places that are tucked away in corners, Sydney needs more of them!

Dumpling Girl said...

Hey Jen, I almost got lost the first time, if my friend didn't drive me, then we had to find parking. It was all worth it, though :)

Hi Jack, couldn't agree more, but there are a few other places in Sydney that are tucked away like this, just not near my work unfortunately :(

aparrafan said...

The two best things at Malibu are the brown vienna bread and the mayo. I could have the bread and mayo and happily call that a yummy sandwich.

Dumpling Girl said...

Hello aparrafan, lol, yes the bread and mayo are fantastic.